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Gut Reaction: Padres 7, Mets 5 (7/27/17)

Not everyone’s first career start is a magical storybook affair. Chris Flexen learned that the hard way last night, when his 0-2 curveball was rocked over the wall by Padres leadoff hitter Manuel Margot. Flexen would go on to only last three innings, as the Mets stumbled to defeat against the Padres, 7-5. In his three innings, he was charged with four runs, allowed five hits, and walked four. Hopefully, it was just nerves for the talented young right hander. His stellar minor league performance this year should warrant a few more chances with the big league club.

The Mets sluggers produced a solid five runs against the Padres, but it was not enough. Leading the charge was Michael Conforto, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Matt Reynolds; who each had two hits a piece. Yoenis Cespedes and Curtis Granderson each doubled for their lone hit, and Jay Bruce sent his 26th home run over the wall for his hit. My Gut Reaction is that the strong offensive showing will continue, and players like Conforto and Cespedes will carry this team offensively to the end of the season.

Out of the bullpen, Tyler Pill had struggles. In his two innings of work, Pill walked two and surrendered three earned runs. Josh Edgin, Fernando Salas, and Erik Goeddel then combined to end the game cleanly. The bullpen has shown signs of improvement lately, which is a nice sight to see. The Mets will take on the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field at 10:10 on Friday, as Rafael Montero will look to put up a second good start in a row.

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3 comments for “Gut Reaction: Padres 7, Mets 5 (7/27/17)”

Pete In Iowa

July 28, 2017 at 2:16 pm

Completely befuddled by TC’s choice of Pill last night. Sure, he’s a starter and a logical long man. However, he’s a starter and how many times has he ever worked two days in a row?
Seems like there was a slew of other options in that spot. He was the worst option and it showed.

Tyler Pill has pitched 121 games as a professional before last night and had never pitched in back-to-back games. He only made 11 relief appearances in his minor league career and eight of those came the year he was drafted in 2011, which the club typically does to get the draft pick some work without overusing them. Each relief appearance that year came on a regular five or six day rotation.

He had another relief appearance in 2012 after not pitching the previous seven days. He had a relief appearance in 2014 after not pitching the previous three days. And he had a relief appearance in 2015 after not pitching the previous 20 days.

I understand that if he’s going to be a reliever that he has to be used in back-to-back situations. And I’m also sensitive that Terry Collins doesn’t have a ton of options right now when he has to go to the pen in the fourth inning. But the decision to use him in consecutive days, with the second one being a relatively close game at three runs, and then asking him to go multiple innings just seems not to be the best choice.

Josh Smoker hadn’t been used in three days and has gone 4 IP in a relief role in the majors earlier this year. He would have been a preferable choice, assuming he was healthy. Josh Edgin hadn’t pitched in four days and had gone 3 innings in an appearance in the majors this year. And he was used later in the game so we know he was available.